Most cataphropes are caused by many different things coming together to cause it. I think that was one spoke in the wheel that didn't need to happen.

Seems like I mighta mentioned that several years back, and lots of folks told me they had plenty of turkeys and a 6 hen a day limit would never be a problem in TN. Thing is, there are still counties that have that 6 a day limit. I have hunted in 3 of them, and the places I hunted didn't have as many turkeys as the places I hunt in AL. It always seemed like insanity to me to allow such a thing.

How can a state with an active hen season pretend to care about the population? How can a hunter who has actively pursued a hen on purpose ever complain either?

It's not smart, and there's no counter point. Nothing.

Nope. Nothing. And anyone that's ever partaken in that sinful act outta be ashamed.

Small step for TN but they are going to a 1 hen per county limit starting this Fall. This is for the counties that currently allow hens to be killed in the Fall.

Don't shoot girls! That's the #1 rule of turkeys

Glad to hear that; that's a pretty big step to go from 6 to 1. One too many to suit me, but I guess I just don't understand.

I want y'all to chew on this:

Rural areas are getting smaller and smaller. 15-20 years ago I was about as deep in the country as you could get. Took 30 minutes to get to a grocery store. Now I've got 3 neighbors. Worthless lazy people have flocked to the country side over the last 15 years to basically just get by because there are no jobs, low paying jobs, they are getting a gov't check, all of them are on food stamps, etc. and they live out in the country cook meth and poach on your land on Tuesday when you aren't around, etc. You are working, they aren't 1/2 the time.

That's rural America in 2016. Like it or not you ain't in Kansas anymore. Alabama has more people on welfare than you can shake a stick at and don't think they are African American either. The majority of them are white and most of them hunt whether they have a license or not. We have more food stamp recipients than kids in public school.

Let me get off the rant and to the point.... Hunter numbers don't necessarily have to go up statewide for areas to receive more hunting pressure than they have in the past. The areas are just becoming more confined. You are putting more hunters in 100 square miles or whatever your distance is you'd like to measure.

You allow feeders, increased bag limits, unlimited harvest, etc.

You have less animals to hunt. Don't care what species.

Pretty simple.

Met a feller from middle Tennessee a couple weeks ago said he'd killed bout 175 turkeys in his life. Not an old fellow either, come to find out bout 1/2 were hens. I told him I know several hillbillies with numbers like that but their kills are all toms.

Goat Killer, my notebook absolutely refuses to let me type your name as one word. Keeps changing it to boat killer, which makes no sense, but that's the way a lot of things are to me now.

I was just gonna say that you make a lot of good points. Chicken litter and other things may be a real problem in some areas, but I still think that a loss of habitat is the most important limiting factor on the turkey population. And it is primarily nesting and brood rearing habitat that we are lacking. If the poults make it to a couple of months old, they won't starve to death. They can survive almost anywhere with a little age on them.

To the top by request

I wonder if the litter used in the study was put under a heat, or just put out out directly from the houses?

We use litter, (for 7-8 plus years).

God Bless,
David B.

What I wonder, is what happened to the study? It's like it just disappeared from any public discussion.

Cause the Chicken Mafia made them an offer they couldn't refuse

This ut matin research..sleeps with the chickens

I am not sure of the value of spreading unsubstantiated rumors.

I had posted this article in the other thread but felt it has a lot of relevance. While it is only dealing with domesticated chickens and turkeys it seems it would be applicable in wild birds as well. Here are a few of the parts that stuck out to me.


It is commonly agreed that all broiler breeder farms are heavily contaminated with caecal worm (Heterakis gallinarum) eggs, which are the only known biological vector of the blackhead organism.


The life cycle of Histomonas has been reconsidered, after the discovery that turkeys could become infected from direct contact with other birds or contaminated faeces.


http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/1285/control-of-blackhead-disease/

A large farm to my east routinely spreads litter, but it's the liquid form. What I do know, is the property between it and my little place has no turkeys on the east side. I've covered most of the adjoining 2800 acres recently doing some trapping. Ive seen plenty of sign from all game except turkeys. Repoertedly the 5000 acre farm has very few turkeys as well.

This tract is very diverse, hardwood river bottoms, 2nd thinning pine and cutover. Zero turkey sign in areas that should support turkeys. We are at 77 on nest predators removed.

I dont know what else to do. I have some beautiful clover plots and last year planted almost 150 lbs of soybeans in kne of my plots. Zero turkeys visited that plot. In fact, I've seen 1 turkey in my field in just over a year.

One thing that may have been hurting me is I let the edges of my field grow up in broomsage, dog fennel and briars with a few openings for transition from the timber. The deer loved it but Im thinking if affected turkey movement. Most of it has been mowed now.

Ive also heard that bull gnats might be a reason the turkeys avoid my fields. They can be very bad at times. If this is the case, would establishing purple martin and bat boxes help with the gnats ? Beginning to get a little desperate here.

The existence of the study is not a rumor; Matt said he was aware of it and was monitoring it, but it wasn't complete when this thread came up 2 years ago.

So maybe they are still working on it. Or maybe something else happened. I would like to know the status if anyone has info on it

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/TWRA_UT-CVM_Turkey_Disease_Study_Summary-_Sept_2016.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwjU76DZk7bZAhWphOAKHWQbDswQFggnMAE&usg=AOvVaw1RdJsl0NgRIv8xFTYKs5pW